Hey BN,
I'm getting a new brewing setup soon (*fidgets*), and will be moving from my cooler-based MLT to a direct fire RMS. Which is to say, I'm putting a boilermaker on top of a burner and using a pump to recirculate. Assuming I watch the temperature and turn the flame on and off at appropriate times, this seems like a reasonable thing to do. It's a new process for me, and I'll play with it a bit, but I'd love some insights too.
1) Do you normally want to target your sac rest temp (15X) when you strike the grains, or should I try to hit a lower (120F) range for a dough-in temp and then ramp up the temperature afterwards.
2) With a march pump recirculating, do you recirc the entire time, or only when you're running the heat? I could see benefits to always recircing, but I imagine you lose a bit more heat that way.
3) Are the brewmometers in the boilermakers at a reasonable location to get a sense of the actual mash temp with this direct-fire setup, or should I instead install a thermometer probe in my outflow hookup? I've already blown the budget on the pots, so I'm trying to use what's available already, but not if that means I'm consistently overheating my wort (a worry, given the temperature-sensitivity of a mash). I could also just keep poking the top of the grain bed with my thermapen too, I suppose.
